A new month, a new attitude?

Today I felt surprisingly good about the house. I think it's a combination of things - acceptance, learning, and completing a few projects.

First, acceptance......whenever I talk about the project, everyone's first question is "When will you be done?" People ask when the housewarming party is, and say they'll come visit when we are done. I've finally learned to shut that type of thinking off in my own mind. It's not that I mind people asking, nor am I upset that they do, it's just that that particular way of thinking is counterproductive for me. The reality is, we live in a horrible construction mess, and in spite of our best efforts this will continue for the foreseeable future. Anyone who has been through major remodeling knows how something can take an inconceivable amount of time. We are also doing a lot of the work ourselves, which saves MASSIVE amounts of money but you have to add at least one zero to however long it would take a contractor to do it.

I think you can have any two of the following in home projects: fast, quality, and inexpensive. Our countertops are high quality and inexpensive but were not fast. The temporary fence I am putting out on the front lawn will be fast and inexpensive, but not quality (it's wooden stakes and plastic mesh). Finally, if you are willing to pay any amount you can have quality very fast (Donald Trump probably doesn't wait for marble floors!). The truth is we have an incredible house, and we already have a great lifestyle because of it's location. Our priorities are doing things economically and with high quality, thus it will not be fast. We also both think it is really important to do enough research before committing to anything, and this takes time.

Second is learning. I've learned not to expect anything to go right or on schedule. This may sound negative, but it is actually a reflection of reality in remodeling. By expecting things to right and as planned, you are setting yourself up for constant disappointment and frustration. By expecting things to go awry, you are prepared for whatever happens and if things do go right it's a pleasant surprise. For example, we had our first try at passing final electrical yesterday. The electrician said it would be no big deal and that we would probably have few or no corrections. The inspector actually found quite a few things which are not huge things, but will need more time from the electrician. The inspector made a comment joking around about me being upset, and I found myself saying "I'm done being upset." It was a funny moment, but expecting things to go wrong helped me not have an up-and-down day.

I've also learned how to manage my schedule better. When we first started, I spun my wheels a lot just trying to stay on top of everything. Now I have a much better idea of how to organize my time and I have been really productive the last few weeks. It's a great feeling.

Finally, we are starting to see some movement in the projects we are doing. For months, I had the master bedroom plywood subfloor and the countertops on my daily to-do list. The only thing that was done was the small tiled floor I did in the laundry area. This is not much to show for almost a year of work! This week I completed the master bedroom subfloor and just today I got the first pass of caulk on the countertop. One more pass and the countertop is done (like everything on the countertop, even the caulking is complicated. The gap at the back is too large to fill with one pass). That makes three major projects complete, and frees up time in my daily schedule to tackle the next few. I've found it works best to have several projects going at once and spend a little time on each project daily. It makes tedious tasks doable and keeps me productive (i.e. when one is stalled I can go to the next).